Oct 26, 2010

Unsealed: Proof of Catholic Diocese Protecting Pedophiles



Nearly 10,000 pages in internal documents belonging to the Catholic Diocese of San Diego -- unsealed under court order -- reveal a longstanding practice of covering for sexually abusive priests and shuffling them off to other dioceses.

The records are from the personnel files of 48 priests who were either credibly accused or convicted of sexual abuse or were named in a civil lawsuit. They include a decades-old case in which a priest under police investigation was allowed to leave the U.S. after the diocese intervened.

. . .

The files show what the diocese knew about abusive priests, starting decades before any allegations became public, and that some church leaders moved priests around or overseas despite credible complaints against them.

At least one convicted sex offender is still serving as a priest but south of the border, beyond the reach of American jurisprudence.

A former San Diego priest convicted of molesting two boys in San Bernardino is still with the Catholic Church, but is now in Ensenada, Mexico.

. . .

Father Gustavo Benson served at Our Lady of Sacred Heart in San Diego in 1971. In 1975, he was at St. John Church in Encinitas, and in 1977 at Mary Star of the Sea in Oceanside. He worked in several different parishes in California until he was charged with molesting two boys in San Bernardino. Benson entered a plea of no contest and agreed to counseling. 10News learned he was then sent to the Diocese of Tijuana, where he has been serving for more than a decade.

A woman answering the phone at San Pablo Apostol in Ensenada confirmed Benson delivered Sunday's sermon and then left on a 15-20 day vacation.


Another priest was quietly moved back to his native Colombia and managed to avoid legal action entirely.

In at least one instance, the files included documented abuse by a priest whose name had not before surfaced in any lawsuit or criminal case, the Rev. Luis Eugene de Francisco, who was originally from Colombia. Police investigated de Francisco for allegedly abusing children, but the diocese convinced authorities to drop the case if the priest would return immediately to his Colombian diocese and never return to the U.S.

"In early August 1963, Father was placed under arrest by the civil police of the City of San Diego for violation of the State Penal Code," then-Bishop Charles F. Buddy wrote the Colombian bishop in the Diocese of Cali. "At that time, arrangements were made between this Chancery and the civil authorities of San Diego in which, if Father left the United States with the promise never to return, the charges against Father would be set aside by Civil Law."

At least two priests were subject to psychiatric care and put back into the ministry without being "cured." Rev. Robert Nikliborc was sent on "retreat" after accusations from parents of abused children but was later put in charge of a residential facility for troubled boys. (!!!) Rev. Anthony Rodrigue was returned to service in the church over the express objections of his psychiatrists.

In all these cases, the intervention of church officials protected these priests from consequences and further endangered children. Bishop Buddy is on record as having coached Rev. de Francisco on the importance of evading the law.

"You have won a reputation as a zealous worker and devoted to the poor," Bishop Buddy wrote the priest in a December 1962 letter.

"On the other hand, the 'incidents' at Indio were more serious than first presented to me, especially inasmuch as the police have made a record of them. You know how word gets around, so that you be certain that the police here will be on your trail. ... It will be more prudent and more secure for you to return to your own diocese."

So, once again, the appearance of impropriety is worse than the impropriety. And avoiding civil authority is the goal; not protecting children. Now the Church has to deal with, and pay for, the devastating reality of what happened to those children.

"I hid it from my parents, I hid it from the world, and I want the world to know that it's tough," said Jim Whitman, who calls himself a survivor after being sexually abused by his priest as a child.

Whitman, a San Diego resident, recently settled a lawsuit with the San Diego Catholic Diocese after claiming that the abuse was at the hands of Father Gustavo Benson. Whitman says prior to telling his story, he spent 20 years on the streets hooked on meth and alcohol. At one point he tried to commit suicide.


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Oct 21, 2010

Did James Arthur Ray Smoke Sedona's Business?



Sedona Arizona, boasting four energy vortexes, has been the go-to place for spiritual seekers for decades. But its tourist business has fallen off dramatically over the past year and many are blaming the PR nightmare that was James Arthur Ray's sweat lodge debacle.

“It was a very unfortunate and sad situation that could have happened anywhere,” said Janelle Sparkman, president of the Sedona Metaphysical Spiritual Association, who attributes the woes that New Age practitioners are experiencing to a lack of disposable income for spiritual needs and not what happened that awful afternoon. “It was not indicative of Sedona or Sedona’s practitioners at all.”

But sweat lodges are now far less common, with the authorities shutting some down to avoid further trouble. And the spiritual association is pushing the importance of ethics among spiritualists.

Still, the tragedy of what occurred, along with the barrage of lawsuits, has caused some outsiders to look elsewhere for fulfillment.

No one is discounting that our foundering economy may account for some or all of the downturn in Sedona's business. But at least one business is suing James Ray. Amayra and Michael Hamilton -- owners of the Angel Valley Ranch which hosted Ray's deadly seminar -- claim that they've been losing as much as $35,000 a month since Kirby Brown, James Shore, and Liz Neuman were baked to death on their premises. Meanwhile, however, The Hamiltons want the survivors and family members who were harmed by the incident to drop the law suits against the ranch.

Several months back, the Hamiltons made a spiritual appeal to end the lawsuits, e-mailing those who were suing them and asking them to consider the implications of what they were doing. “Let’s come together,” the e-mail said. “Let’s find a new way to do this.”

Their effort drew no takers, although it did rile the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

The Hamiltons also came up with the idea of holding a large grieving ceremony this month for sweat lodge participants and survivors at the one-year anniversary of the deaths, and planned to use their insurance money to pay for it. They insisted, however, that all attendees agree to drop their suits. Nobody agreed, so the smaller ceremony was held.

So it would seem that their apparent largess is undercut by an act of emotional blackmail; offering an opportunity for victims to grieve at the site where they lost so much but only if they are willing to stop seeking justice. One can't help but wonder if the Hamiltons might be making their own problems as they seem to be afflicted by the same conflation of greed with spirituality that lies at the very heart of this nightmare. (More on the suits pending against them can be found here.)

I can't help feeling that the issue of Sedona's falling stock is emblematic of a greater restructuring. The conflation of spirituality with pecuniary interest has always caused tension. As I've stated repeatedly, I don't think there is anything wrong with being paid for spiritual work. Work is work and spirit can't be divorced from anything in the material world. We all have to live within the prevailing economic model. Barter is impracticable and no more "spiritual" than any other form of material exchange. But there are businesses that are run in integrity and businesses that run on greed on exploitation. And far too much of the "new age" seems to revel in a celebration of greed that would make Gordon Gekko blush. The Secret is a prime example of an ostensibly spiritual teaching that makes wealth and materiality central to its message. James Arthur Ray openly equates poverty and illness with spiritual failing; his attempts at revisionism as his own health and money problems have been made public not withstanding. As the greater economy collapses around our ears, I'm just suggesting that it might not only be Goldman Sachs, AIG, and their ilk, that need to reevaluate their priorities.


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Oct 14, 2010

Esoterica



What would James Arthur Ray say? Now the genies are putting people in cement mixers!

The girl became the talk of her village when she allegedly vanished on several occasions, only to be found in odd places like inside a cement mixer and a cemetery.

The parents of Siti Balqis Mohd Nor, 22, were relieved with the success of the two bomoh and hoped their life would return to normal as the djinns were said to be behind the woman's mysterious disappearances.

Hundreds of residents flocked to the home of Siti Balqis when they heard that the "culprits" had been captured and imprisoned in special containers.

Curious onlookers jostled to take photos and video footage of the containers and the djinns said to be inside.

And speaking of James Arthur Ray...

Self-improvement guru James Arthur Ray is scheduled to go on trial in February on manslaughter charges prompted by a sweat lodge ceremony held near Sedona a year ago.

The trial originally was to start at the end of August in Yavapai County Superior Court. But the judge running Ray's case was assigned to replace a colleague who fell ill during a high-profile murder trial, and Ray's trial was put on hold.

It's about time.

Druidry has been recognised as an official religion in Britain for the first time, thousands of years after its adherents first worshipped in the country.

The Druid Network has been given charitable status by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the quango that decides what counts as a genuine faith as well as regulating fundraising bodies.

It guarantees the modern group, set up in 2003, valuable tax breaks but also grants the ancient religion equal status to more mainstream denominations. This could mean that Druids, the priestly caste in Celtic societies across Europe, are categorised separately in official surveys of religious believers.

The Vatican's death grip on moral authority continues to erode.

In recent years, Catholic bishops have used their moral influence and deep pockets to push for bans on same-sex unions in states from California to Maine.

But a new corps of increasingly vocal Catholics is urging a "mutiny" against the hierarchy, in the words of one activist, particularly on gay marriage and related matters.

For example, on Sept. 14, Palacios and other advocates launched Catholics for Equality, a group that aims to persuade believers in the "movable middle" to defy the bishops and support civil rights for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people.

But the Pope's astronomer is eager to bring aliens to Jesus.

Intelligent aliens may be living among the stars and are likely to have souls, a senior Vatican scientist said yesterday.

The Pope's astronomer, Guy Consolmagno, said he would be happy to 'baptise an al ien' - but admitted that the chances of communicating with life outside the Earth were low.

. . .

'Any entity - no matter how many tentacles it has - has a soul,' he added.

And now that we're starting to discover "Class M" planets, he may get his chance!

Astronomers say they have for the first time spotted a planet beyond our own in what is sometimes called the Goldilocks zone for life: Not too hot, not too cold. Juuuust right.

Not too far from its star, not too close. So it could contain liquid water. The planet itself is neither too big nor too small for the proper surface, gravity and atmosphere.

It's just right. Just like Earth.


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Oct 4, 2010

Karen Bishop: We Made It!



For those of you who aren't on Karen Bishop's email list, I'm going to post, in full, her recent update. I'm doing so because this will not be posted to her website and was only made available via email. As ever, she has really validated my own experience and reminded me as to why I miss her regular updates so much. So here is her text; my own observations to follow.

What a challenging and confusing ride it has been for these past several months! So many attempts have been made to put a successful plan (for raising the consciousness and vibration of the planet) into place, that this latest plan seemed to come out of the blue. And while we are in it and experiencing it in physical form, we can easily get blindsided and most certainly flattened, unable to see the forest for the trees.

At the end of April and beginning of May, it was clear that many of us were going to be "removed" from the planet for a while, while a cleansing was taking place. I can remember telling friends that we would be lifted up like beautiful ornaments on a table while the table was dusted and cleaned, and then we would be put back down. But I had no idea it would take this long...nor be so challenging! For the past three years or so, many of us at our soul levels (or those at the helm of this process) have been putting together new and revised plans to support this impending and certain Shift of the Ages. Many miscalculations were made, all with good intentions, and this resulted in many changes with the course and a much longer and drawn out plan than was anticipated. Very briefly put, it was thought that the souls here on the planet now would take over on their own, holding a high vibration and connecting together like a grid, but not enough souls chose to grow and expand and thus, we did not take over on our own.

Many attempts were made to try and keep the vibration high enough by separating from lower vibrations through a separation of the worlds and then yet another one. Even after we "arrived" in a new space in the cosmos, this alone did not seem to have an effect on the tight grip of old patterns and denser and darker energies. Even in higher vibrating energies, many continued to create the old once again.

So this latest plan was finally implemented, and with so many of us acutely weary from the extended time it had taken thus far, this latest plan really took a tole on many of us. Many also went into fear as so much that had been "predicted" did not come to pass as the plan had to continually be tweaked due to unpredictable fear based behavior patterns by many souls on the earth. Was everything over and done with? Was all we had been through one big sad joke? Did the planet decide to descend into hell instead of into heaven? Not enough souls were "ready" for a higher vibrating existence nor ready to connect to one another. So then, a massive cleansing needed to occur. Many times I likened it to receiving chemotherapy treatments in tandem with huge "energy bombs" that blew anything and everything out of its old groove. More on this later. Basically, we had a re-run of 2009 during the past several months. With similar planetary and celestial movements, and similar experiences, but it is hoped that it will turn out different this time because of all the cleansing. Let's cross our fingers. In addition, many of us have been "removed" for a while, so that is a bit different too. (Feelings of not being all here, not in our body, blocked from our creativity, difficulty in waking up in the morning, memory problems, not on top of our game, etc., are symptoms of being removed for awhile.) Because of the cleansing plan, we had to get out of the road. We had to be removed from the massive energy blasts that were due to hit, and which DID hit! But there were other reasons as well why many of us needed to duck and cover.

There were those who continued to depend upon others to receive their light. A few months ago, I visited one of my favorite spots in Southwest Colorado where I had lived in times past. A huge energy vortex at the time, it was truly a magical place. But what a difference now. The higher vibrating energy there had been sucked dry by many who came to experience this energy. And after awhile, the higher level energy was finally depleted. This same scenario was also experienced by souls on the planet who were carrying light within themselves. They were getting sucked dry and thus needed to remove themselves for a while in order to give these dependent souls time to find their own light within themselves and in their own way.

In this way, a new plan was devised, and even if many of us were not aware of it, at our soul levels we followed along. We had to completely cut off from the rest of the planet for a while. If ever our loving natures ventured out, they were many times taken advantage of, disrespected, and mistreated. Many of us had to walk around the planet sealed tighter than Fort Knox...no openings allowed. We were simply following the new plan and removing our energy for a while. The connections consisting of heart energies remained nonetheless, and so, finding or maintaining these was a beautiful consolation.

Beginning with the solstice in June, the massive "energy bombings" arrived. Just when we felt we might be situated somewhere once again, pow! Along would come a huge hit and we would be knocked out of our grooves all over again. Everything had to be removed and usurped from its prior location so that the big heat of the "chemotherapy" treatments could take hold. So then, everything was usurped and what did not need to remain was "burned off."

Experiencing heat stroke with our animal companions and ourselves was common during this time. Have a lower vibrating thought of fear or negativity, and the heat brigade would rush in and clean up! What an intense training in positive and higher vibrating thinking! Because of all of the above, there was a massive absence of light during these months. Those holding light were sealed up like a vault, or under cover, while what remained was being bombarded by the cleaning crew implementing a massive scrub down and clean up mission! In this way, there was nothing to connect to. We were separated from much, and at the same time, in yet another massive birth canal, unable to see outside of its walls. Completely empty and surrounded by seeming darkness was a common occurrence. And those chemotherapy treatments left nothing much within us...we had to be wiped clean for a very new start. Seemingly no light anywhere, but lots of destruction and removal everywhere. Many souls chose to leave the planet during this time as well.

In times past, prior attempts at bringing up the vibration of the planet allowed for greater wiggle room or certainly more choices to be made. But what resulted each and every time was an eventual allowing, which resulted in the darker or denser energies building up once again and continuing to grip and hold our new earth in lower vibrating patterns. So this time, these lower vibrating energies needed to seriously be removed so that the light could finally take hold, take over, and continue growing. No more false starts, stutters and sputters, and eventual collapses. Serious action was now called for here. A clean slate was needed for different choices to be made. In this way, what needs to sprout now is the light. It needs to dominate. This newest plan then, also involved a loss of choice and power during these months, but there was good reason.

We would tell our vehicle to turn right and it would go left. Step on the brake and we would go forward. Step on the gas and we would go backwards. Start something new, become excited, and the next day it would blow up. Try and think of something new, and it would not gel. A piece would trickle in, we would follow the crumbs (the VERY FEW crumbs), and then it would suddenly disappear. What was happening here was an attempt to hold onto a new shore while we were still flying down the river, not yet at our intended destination. Not enough had been cleared away to reveal the new and pristine energy that was to remain. Not time to hold onto anything quite yet.

All this time we were being divinely protected. Strangely enough, all our needs were being met, if even in strange and unusual ways. Something knew more than we did, that there was a light at the end of this new tunnel, even if we were being blocked from knowing ourselves, and it guided and protected us all the way. This something, this beautiful energy from above, these glorious angels that continue to watch over us, twisted and turned us into grooves that would keep us safe, untouched as much as possible, and most certainly, in alignment with our very new spaces, even if we were still unsure what and where these spaces would be.

After we were done experiencing the massive pressure tunnel created by all the celestial events beginning with the solstice, we finally landed somewhere on August 8th. We may have felt that we were finally "somewhere," that we were now home and that we could exhale. But only for a few days, as it did not stick. During this time we may have felt like we were in a parallel universe, or perhaps we had gone back in time, or even felt unsure of where we truly were. Like two massive ships docking side by side, attempting to connect to each other, one parallel universe to another, we may have felt great but only for about four days. We bounced out of the new connection. Things really got tough after that because there was NOTHING to hold onto then. Plans that had been put in place were suddenly changed, new information received was suddenly not implemented, and this was when things really got tough.

Many souls left the planet during this time. My prior husband Phil passed away suddenly from a massive stroke and heart attack. With all the losses and deterioration during this time, it was a challenging time for many. As August neared its end, the "energy bombings" ended as well. Then the "releasing" began (the dizziness and vertigo felt from our light bodies assisting in taking us somewhere new was common during this time). We were beginning a process of being released from old obligations and much of anything that had been holding us down and keeping us back. By mid-September, the releasing process was gaining momentum and the message was clear that we were DONE. We had completed this monumental phase and we were finally done. We were done with all we had agreed to do this past year, and even done with all we had agreed to do for the entire first BOOK of the ascension process. We were now free and clear. We may have felt like suddenly travelling, starting a brand new life, and so forth, as we prepared ourselves, FINALLY, for the new.

Even though many of us experienced great challenges during this time, there were others who held the level below us steady. Their work was thriving, and they seemed untouched. "Why am I suffering so, and Joe is having his best year yet?!" we may have wondered. "Am I being punished for something?" Everything could not transition at once, or crash at once, or the planet would be in quite a catastrophe! So then, now that many of us are "done," we will now connect to each other and create a brand new grid. An energy "pin" has been put into place to hold things steady until these new connections are complete. And when they are complete, this "pin" will be removed and the level below us will then begin to collapse.

Is the internet going to collapse too? No one can predict a scenario like this, but it has certainly outlived its original and pristine purpose and become contaminated like so many other arenas. The "New Age" movement is over as well, but where we will find ourselves is on an even playing field with those who match us through heart connections.

Many made great strides during this time. We adjusted our personal energy patterns where they needed adjusting (I am still not done yet!), and in this way, we will finally be able to connect to one another as was originally planned. Our energies are much more subtle now, if we allow them to be. But there are yet others who have not chosen to benefit from looking within and making changes. We will find ourselves connecting to those with whom we belong, and thank goodness, because we can no longer go it alone. We need this new grid, and it will be comprised of each and every one of us who have chosen to stay and continue on with the creation and/or experience of the new planet earth.

Wishing you heaven in your heart, starlight in your soul, and miracles in your life during these miraculous times,

Karen Bishop
www.emergingearthangels.com (for now!)

It's all great but I've bolded the passages that really jumped out at me. I have found the last several months not so much "challenging" as boring. I've gradually been overtaken by a sense of ennui. I feel totally disconnected from everything and the more I've tried to engage with the world, the sleepier, and more totally bored I've felt. I have numerous half-finished blog posts which never saw the light of day because I lost all interest in them as soon as I started writing them. I have not been able to manufacture and erg of creative energy. I'm just watching the world spin out of control but I feel detached from and powerless over it. No matter what I try to do, I just keep landing in a field of poppies and falling asleep. At the same time, I'm really at peace with it. I totally get that I just haven't been supposed to "do" much of anything.

On the internet thing... there's a very good chance that it will, indeed, collapse. I thought it was very interesting that Karen Bishop's last missive, inviting people to join the mailing list for her upcoming project, requested actual addresses; not just email addresses. It occurred to me that she was, as usual, very prescient. In earlier posts on the time monks updates, the "data gap" has been mentioned. I haven't posted any of Clif High's more recent interviews because there haven't been many of them and they haven't contained much in the way of new information. (And because, you know, yawn...) However, High has repeatedly affirmed a couple of things:

1) That there will be a major event next month with a release language period for weeks longer than the one after 9/11. So something very, very big is pending.

2) The "data gap" is still coming and looks like it will start next year and last for over a year. What that means is that the source for their data mining will be unavailable, for that period of time, and the source of their data is the internet. Whether that means just the internet will go down or the entire electrical grid remains to be seen. We could be looking at a Carrington event which could completely wipe out the grid and throw us back to an agrarian age. (more here) Alternately we could be looking at pole reversal, which seems to be the theory Clif High favors.

Or, who knows, maybe they'll throw the internet kill switch because of "cyber-terror." Or perhaps this worm unleashed on Iran's nuclear facilities could go out of control... There are  a number of possible scenarios by which we could lose the world wide web. Point is, it looks very likely. I'm having a hard time getting worked up about because the internet is boring me to tears.


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